avi to VCD some files bigger than others?

[sethifergp]

Alright so im converting my avi videos to vcd obviously. Now i can convert first two files, which happen to be dvd quality widescreen episodes, and they only take up 30% of the 700MB disc. So i tried to do the third episode, which is high quality while not exactly dvd quality. Now this third episode, and all the ones like it (44 of them) are coming up as barely being abel to fit onto one disc. Now i tried some other episodes of other series that i have, and this seems to be an isolated problem. What could possibly be the reason for this one group of encoded videos to go to vcd in such a large file? Is there nothing i can do? Its not just a large increase in file size, its three times the size than the others. I dont want to lose lots of quality and i dont think lowering the bitrate will give me 1/3 of the size. any ideas? Thanks.

[pieroxy]

VCD has a fixed bitrate, so in theory:

1. Don't lower the bitrate or your VCD will not be compliant
2. The filesize is a direct derivative of your movie length. Basically, 1min=~10MB. Can you open your VCD (MPEG1) files in media player and see what length it does report?

What process do you use to convert your AVI files?

[sethifergp]

well it turns out that my files have some audio encode that TMPGEnc cant deal with. Ive tried some others and they dont work either. So not only did they turn out huge but there was no audio.

[setarip]

To sethifergp

The problematic .AVIs most likely contain Variable Bitrate ("VBR") .MP3 audiostreams, which TMPGEnc cannot properly interpret.

Converting .AVIs with VBR-MP3 Audio for use with TMPGEnc

Using VirtualDubMOD to Convert "VBR" .MP3 to Uncompressed .WAV

1) Load the .AVI file into VirtualDubMOD (a different program than the standard VirtualDub)

2) From the "Video" dropdown menu, select "Direct Stream Copy"

3) From the "Streams" dropdown menu, select "Stream List" - and rightclick on the audio stream, then select "Full Processing Mode" - then click on "OK"

4) From the "File" dropdown menu, save with a new filename

[sethifergp]

thanks man, i will try that out as soon as i can. And since you cant change the bitrate i guess im stuck with .avis that take up just a few more MBs than a 700 mb cd-r, or is there another way to make them smaller aside from changing the bitrate.

[pieroxy]

i guess im stuck with .avis that take up just a few more MBs than a 700 mb cd-r

Well, those should be .mpg files, not .avi files. A 70Min CD (aka 700MB CD) will accomodate a 800MB MPG file, not 700MB in the (S)VCD mode.

is there another way to make them smaller

Usually, I would say it is pretty safe to lower the bitrate. Your VCD, though not standard compliant, will most likely play in a large variety of stand alone players. The only thing is that the bitrate for VCD is low enough to make pretty much all movies blocky, so I don't know if reducing the bitrate is a really good option. If you need more space, you can maybe try the new 99/90min CDs. I have never tried that...

[setarip]

"thanks man, i will try that out as soon as i can."

My pleasure ;>}